Almost all Australian politicians have properly declared their company directorships and shareholdings, according to an analysis carried out by Guardian Australia.
At the beginning of every new parliament, politicians are required to declare a range of things that could result in conflicts of interest, such as their shareholdings, properties owned, gifts received and membership of organisations. They are also required to declare any directorships of companies.
Separately, directors and shareholders of private companies must also be registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, known as Asic.
Guardian Australia has cross-referenced Asic searches on all politicians in the new parliament with the declarations they have made in their register of interests, identifying a small number of discrepancies and, in one case, a newly registered company for a politician about to leave the Senate.
According to Asic’s register, six politicians are now registered as the director of a company that does not appear in their declaration of interests.
But most of the companies involved are either no longer in use, have been previously declared, or are owned by companies that have themselves been properly declared.
The New South Wales member of parliament Ed Husic is listed with Asic as a director of Campaign Action Ltd, a leadership training company whose website is no longer online.
“This was a company I was a non-paid director for many years ago, I haven’t been actively involved for many years,” Husic said. “I appreciate it’s technically an oversight, and I’m happy to correct the record, and will do so.”
The Queensland Liberal National party senator James McGrath is listed as a director of the Sir Paul Hasluck Foundation, which he declared in the previous parliament – but it was not included in his latest register.
A spokeswoman for McGrath said the omission was an oversight and the register had been updated.
“In 2015, when Senator McGrath was made a director of the Sir Paul Hasluck Foundation, this information was promptly included on his declaration of interests register,” she said. “Upon the formation of the new parliament, Senator McGrath submitted a new register of interests, which, by mistake, did not include his directorship of the Sir Paul Hasluck Foundation.”
The foundation is a not-for-profit established to “honour Sir Paul Hasluck’s contribution to Australian public and intellectual life” and a number of McGrath’s colleagues are also directors, including Arthur Sinodinos, Cory Bernardi and Michaelia Cash.
Labor’s Carol Brown was listed as a director of Brown Iwanovski Properties Pty Ltd with Asic but the company does not appear on her register. A related company, Brown Iwanovski Pty Ltd, is declared on her register. Brown says Brown Iwanovski Properties Pty Ltd “does not trade or act in any other capacity other than being a trustee”.
The Liberal party’s Jason Wood is listed as the director of LLTK Pty Ltd but the company was not declared on his register. Wood said in a statement that the company is not in use and sits under a company called Eight H Pty Ltd, which Wood did declare.
The Liberal senator Anne Ruston is the director of Rian Nominees Pty Ltd, which was not listed in her register of declarations. A spokeswoman for Ruston said: “This was an oversight and the senator’s register of interest has now been updated.”
The Western Australian Liberal MP Rick Wilson also had a discrepancy between his interests register and the Asic database.
“The omission of my title as a director of Bear Necessity (WA) Pty Ltd from my register of interests appears to be an oversight related to a loan taken out by the Indinup Superannuation Fund for investment purposes,” Wilson said.
“This inadvertent omission does not materially change any of the interests declared in my statement. I have sought further information from my accountant and I will be updating my statement as soon as I have all the relevant information.”
Unrelated to the register of interests, Asic searches also show that the outgoing Labor senator Stephen Conroy registered a new company, Chellwood Advisory Pty Ltd, after the announcement of his retirement from the Senate. There was no requirement for him to declare the interest.
